Coteaux du Layon is an ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bou ...

'' (AOC) for sweet white

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

in the

Loire Valley wine The Loire Valley wine region includes the French wine regions situated along the river Loire from the Muscadet region near the city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast to the region of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé just southeast of the city of Orléans ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Coteaux du Layon is situated in the

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France * County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duk ...

district of the region, along the river

Layon The Layon () is a long river in the Deux-Sèvres and Maine-et-Loire departments in western France. Its source is near Saint-Maurice-la-Fougereuse. It flows generally northwest. It is a left tributary of the Loire, into which it flows near Chal ...

, which is a tributary of the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

. Six of the villages (

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

), namely

Beaulieu-sur-Layon Beaulieu-sur-Layon (, literally ''Beaulieu on Layon'') is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. The composer and organist Louis Aubeux (1917–1999) was born in Beaulieu-sur-Layon. Geography The commune is traversed by ...

Faye-d'Anjou Faye-d'Anjou () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Bellevigne-en-Layon.Rablay-sur-Layon Rablay-sur-Layon () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Bellevigne-en-Layon.Rochefort-sur-Loire,

Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. On 31 December 2015, it was merged into the new commune Val-du-Layon. This rural village, located in the deep valley of Layon and in the Loire Val ...

and Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay are allowed to add their name to that of the appellation. Usually, the "de" or "sur" part is dropped, to give names like Coteaux du Layon Beaulieu and Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin. Furthermore, two villages within the Coteaux du Layon area form their own respective AOC – Bonnezeaux and Chaume. Finally, a favoured enclave within Chaume is a separate AOC under the name Quarts de Chaume. For the geographically delimited AOCs, required grape maturity is higher and allowed yield is lower. The best vineyards are generally located on the north bank of the Layon, where they enjoy a good sun exposure on roughly south-facing slopes. Coteaux du Layon including its enclave appellations cover about in the early 2000s. The wines of Coteaux du Layon are all made from Chenin blanc, locally often called ''Pineau de la Loire''. Often, the

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

s are harvested when they are affected by

noble rot Noble rot (french: pourriture noble; german: Edelfäule; it, Muffa nobile; hu, Aszúsodás) is the beneficial form of a grey fungus, ''Botrytis cinerea'', affecting wine grapes. Infestation by ''Botrytis'' requires moist conditions. If the we ...

, but can also be merely very ripe or have sun-dried on the vine, so-called ''passerillé'' grapes. While Coteaux du Layon wines are never dry, the level of sweetness varies. Simpler wines from the basic appellation could best be described as semi-sweet, while some producers – nicknamed "sugar hunters" – produce very sweet wines with an intense botrytis character similar to a

Trockenbeerenauslese ''Trockenbeerenauslese'' (literal meaning: 'dried berry selection') is a German language wine term for a medium to full body dessert wine. ''Trockenbeerenauslese'' is the highest in sugar content in the ''Prädikatswein'' category of the Austrian ...

. Some, but not all of these very sweet wines are labelled Sélection de Grains Nobles. However, it has been claimed that since the late 1990s, fewer producers try to get the sweetness of their wines up to the very extreme levels sought by many "sugar hunters" during the 1990s.

Chaume

The village of Chaume is situated in the western part of the Coteaux du Layon area in the commune of Rochefort-sur-Loire. The village of Chaume used to be one of the villages which could add its name to the appellation name, to be sold as Coteaux du Layon Chaume. The requirements for Chaume were slightly higher than for the other villages. In 2003, INAO elevated Chaume to its own AOC under the name Chaume Premier Cru des Coteaux du Layon. This choice of name was somewhat unusual for the region, since no other Loire appellation (in difference from for example Burgundy AOCs) bear the designation

Premier Cru Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The t ...

Grand Cru Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The ...

as part of their AOC name. Therefore, the decision was protested by some other Loire producers, and in 2005 the '' Conseil d'État'' annulled INAO's rules for the new appellation, temporarily returning Chaume to its pre-2003 status. In 2007, the AOC was created anew, now under the shorter and less controversial name of Chaume and covering .INAO: Appellation rules for AOC Chaume, with latest changes from April 27, 2007
/ref> The vintages 2005 and 2006 were allowed to carry the new name. The must weight and residual sugar requirements for the new Chaume appellation were set higher than for Quarts de Chaume. However, Quarts de Chaume AOC producers still felt that the close association between their AOC's name and Chaume was causing damage to the value of their wines and continued to object to the AOC naming, and brought the new AOC to court as well, where it was annulled in May 2009, which would mean that the wine would be back to Coteaux du Layon status. In December 2009 it looked like the controversy would be resolved by the regional committee of INAO by Chaume being allowed to call itself Premier Cru, while Quarts de Chaume would be called

Quarts de Chaume and Bonnezeaux

Within the village of Chaume, a particularly favored enclave of just over is entitled to the name Quarts de Chaume, which means "the quarter of Chaume". It is situated with southernly exposure in an

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

-like setting, with brown

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

and carboniferous soils. Sources differ as to the explanation of the name, if it is derived from its status as the best quarter of Chaume, or if a quarter of the wine was collected by a landowner as payment in older times. The AOC of Bonnezeaux is located in the eastern part of the Coteaux du Layon area, and has about of vineyards.

Requirements

The legal requirements for the different AOCs are as follows.INAO: Appellation rules for AOC Uarts de Chaume, with latest changes from October 10, 2003
/ref>

Other appellations

The subregion's generic

appellation overlaps with the Coteaux du Layon area. Therefore, it is possible to downgrade Coteaux du Layon wine to dry or sweet Anjou blanc. Coteaux de l’Aubance to the north of Coteaux du Layon produce wines of a similar style, but is a less notable appellation. Vouvray is another Chenin blanc appellation which produces both sweet, dry and sparkling wines. It is situated further upriver along the Loire, in the Touraine subregion. In comparison to sweet Vouvray, Coteaux du Layon wines tend to be more full-bodied, often sweeter, and slightly lower in acidity.

References

External links